How to get there The Water Park is located at Buschkrugallee 64 12359 Berlin. The closest U-Bahn station would be Grenzallee with the U7. Here is the map. What you’ll see You’ll definitely not see clean water to swim in but you’ll see a lot empty pools. The water park is quite big, from the sauna to the indoor pools and even the roof! Unfortunately the slide has been taken down and torn apart, otherwise it could have been a fun ride down to the half empty pool. The best place in the water park in my opinion is the sauna area. You walk into a green house looking complex with trees and plants and find yourself in a pyramid looking sandstone painted Cleopatrabad sauna room within seconds. The tiles at the park are also impressive. Also try to get up on the roof and get a birds eye view of the water park. Any Dangers The only danger I noticed was trying to get on the roof. Someone put up wooden palette on top of the lying refrigerator to the top of the ceiling to access the roof. Not only you not shake the palette, you also have to watch […] Read More

How to get there The animal anatomy institute is located at Königin-Luise-Straße 14, Berlin. You can either walk from U-Bahn Station Dahlem or take a bus from U+S Bahn Station Rathaus Steglitz. You’ll immediately see the building that is fenced up. Here is the map if needed. How to get in The doors at the front of the building are shut so the easiest way to get in would be going around on the side street from Peter-Lenne Strasse. You’ll notice where the fence ends, there is a tiny gap that you can easily sneak in. After going through the fence you are home free and ready to explore the area. What you’ll see You wont see any dead animals or such but I think the main thing to see would be the auditorium. I know when I was back in university I’d always want to see my school be torn apart and be burnt to the ground. But other than the auditorium there are plenty other places to explore such as the laboratory and classrooms. Its not such a big building to explore and much things to see although you’ll definitely wont be disappointed from the experience. Any Dangers The […] Read More

How to get there The bowling alley is located within the city limits in the south of Berlin. The address is Selerweg 4. Its a 15 minute walk from Rathaus Steglitz U+S Bahn station. Its really hard not to notice the empty building surrounded by fences while you walk up to the cul du sac. But in case you need a map, here it is. How to get in The fence surrounding the building is not really bolted down properly and as you walk along the fence, you’ll see some openings to slip right in. Not to forget that its in a residential area and the neighbours will be likely watching you getting into the building. What you’ll see The bowling alley was very much run down whilst I was there. I guess going on a day just after heavy rainfall didnt make the experience better than expected. There are two floors to explore. The lower floor is just the parking lot and I’m assuming it was used always as a parkade even after the bowling alley was not in use anymore. The upper floor is where the actually alley was. You’ll still some bowling pins and bowling shoes scattered […] Read More

How to get there The Paper Mill is located in north Berlin at Eberswalde Strasse 29~30, Eberswalde. Its right behind the PapierMuseum on Wolfswinkel street and you’ll see the fences up and a door with the sign “End of Summer”. The easiest way to get to the paper mill would be taking the RE3 train from Berlin Hauptbahnhof or Gesundbrunnen in the direction of Eberswalde Hauptbahnhof. When you get off at the station you can either walk to the site or take the bus 861 and stop at Finow/Wolfswinkel. Here is a map How to get in You need to first jump over the door with the sign that says “End of Summer”. Afterwards its time to explore. The first building with the trailer parked in front has a small window where you can jump in but the more you go towards the back of the buildings (towards the other trailers), you’ll notice there are no closed doors and fences to prevent you to wonder around. What you’ll see Out of my previous explorations, I must say this has been one of the best so far in terms of graffitis and artwork. Not only the artist(s) did an excellent job but […] Read More

In my previous posts Berlin My New Home, I mentioned the do’s and dont’s after you move to Berlin. The necessary paperwork required, the bureaucracy you have to deal with, how to avoid waiting in the queue for hours just to get a stamp, etc. Now I’m going to write about the things that is required to exchange your expat drivers license to a German license. Coming from a country which forces you to have a car and drive everywhere even to buy simple things like bread and milk, I decided to change my Canadian drivers license and get a German license. At first I was a bit worried that I had to go through the written and road test all over again. I’ve already failed the written test in my native language before so I cant even imagine how I’d pass if it was in German. Therefore before I left Canada I made sure that I had my International Drivers Permit so I can drive anywhere in the world without a hassle. Although my dream had to come to an end. After living in Berlin for more than a year, I found out that after being a resident of Germany for more […] Read More

How to get there The hospital can be accessed with train RE7 which stops in the major stations in Berlin. You can get off at the Beelitz-Heilstätten stop and from there you can choose which direction to go to. The hospital is located on both sides of the train tracks, so you can first start either from the right hand side or the left hand side. Here is a map How to get in There are plenty of buildings at Beelitz therefore every building has their own way of getting in. Most buildings are easy to get in with the doors being wide open whereas others you might have to jump over the fence and crawl through the door or window from the basement. Regardless to say you’ll still find a way to get in the buildings. What you’ll see Its said that there are around 60 buildings at Beelitz-Heilstätten although not all are abandoned. Most of the buildings are still in use since there is a rehab center and home for elderly. In terms of the abandoned buildings, there are 10-12 buildings that are worth seeing. You’ll need to start your day very early to see everything or split […] Read More

Its been a long cold winter in Berlin for 2013. The darkest winter on record so far. Coming from snow country myself, I’m actually getting sick of it. That said, despite the depressing winter it still doesnt stop me exploring abandoned places. The Bahnbetriebswerk (Train Yard) was built in 1893 since the Berlin – Szczecin railway connection was built years ago and there was in need of repairing and servicing the trains. Therefore the last roundhouse of its kind in Germany on a 250,000m2 lot would be built in Heinersdorf. The train yard afterwards was connected to the Berlin S-Bahn in August 1924. Towards the end of the 1990’s, it was farewell to the train yard. At first the main station, water tower and depot was closed and until 2009 the rail tracks have been dismantled. There are only two roundhouses left in Germany (One being this and the other in Rummelsburg). The whole lot has been bought by a private investor in 2009 to build a shopping center along with a parking lot. How to get there Not too far from the city center, getting to the train yard is quite easy. You can take the S-Bahn S2 and S8 north direction […] Read More

In my previous posts Berlin My New Home, I mentioned the do’s and dont’s after you move to Berlin. The necessary paperwork required, the bureaucracy you have to deal with, how to avoid waiting in the queue for hours just to get a stamp, etc. Now I’m going to write about the things that is required after moving into a rental apartment. Moving to a new flat with no furniture, electricity, gas, water and internet would be something of course no one would want. Assuming that you have already registered yourself to the Bürgeramt (if not do so) the next steps will be followed below; 1- Electricity – There are plenty of companies that provide electricity in Berlin and Germany in general. All of them have several packages and discounts that would make you overwhelmed. The biggest provider in Germany is Vattenfall and probably the most expensive one. Although there service is good when it comes to the fact. You can also check out the these links and do comparisons of which one to choose; http://www.check24.de/ http://www.verivox.de/ 2- Gas – Just like electricity, there are many gas providers in Berlin. You can either get your gas privately or through your Hausverwaltung. There are […] Read More

I’m pretty sure the GDR Iraqi embassy has seen better days. The time when Saddam Hussein in his “glory” times supporting the GDR and being a great ally to East Germany. The times when his posters were flourishing the walls of every Iraqi owned building and his control over the people. Eventually that all came to an end after the collapse of the wall and the Gulf War in 1991. The GDR Iraqi embassy was built in 1974 based on the fact that Iraq was the first non-socialist country to recognize East Germany back in 1969. Of course this meant a lot for the East Germans considering that they chose and preferred the east over the west. Although things didn’t look good after the collapse of the wall in 1990. At that time there were rumours that weapons and explosives were being smuggled into Berlin and stored in the embassy. This was the during the Gulf War. There were also reports confirming the weapons and explosives being hidden in the embassy. After the reunification of Germany and new established government, the GDR Iraqi embassy staff were “kindly” asked to leave in January 1991. Currently Iraq still has the rights of the […] Read More

The Alte Fleischfabrik (Old Meat Factory) was owned by the Konsumgenossenschaft (KGB) and was established in 1899. The KGB is a consumer association that would sell and trade retail goods to its members for very inexpensive prices. Up to 1990 it was the largest consumer cooperative in the GDR and fourth largest in the world. The KGB still exists today although the old meat factory and bakery have been sold to private investors due to the operations of the factories went bankrupt in 1993. The KGB office buildings, meat factory and bakery were built before WWI in 1909 by architect Otto Wettstein. The factory also has a industrial railway track which shows that it was well connected to transport the goods. The bakery was producing more than 4000 breads daily. The buildings have survived for over a hundred years and two world wars. Currently its part of a private tour company which books tours to visit abandoned sites around Berlin. How to get there Since the Fleischfabrik is within Berlin city limits, it is very easy to access the site. You can take the U5 to Magdalenenstr station, walk up the Ruschestr. and once you are at the Netto you’ll see the […] Read More